Religion is both the disease and the cure | Sheldon Solomon and Lex Fridman
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- Full episode with Sheldon Solomon (Aug 2020): • Sheldon Solomon: Death...
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Sheldon Solomon is a social psychologist, a philosopher, co-developer of Terror Management Theory, co-author of The Worm at the Core.
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"And I say to the students, 'Well, what's wrong with that?' And they're like, 'Nothin. That's like, awesome.' And then I'm like, 'Yo, dudes... You're out of the cave, but how do you know you're not in another cave?'"
cracked up at that
Leo's characters wife in inception :)
It's just a bigger cave, then you find your way out, right into a bigger cave. 🤔
Spiral dynamics 🧬
Yeah, I have always subscribed to the idea that when one thinks outside a box, they are just thinking in an even bigger box
Religion is not the church or a theological system of thought. Religion is profound experience.
Religion represents the mystery of life, the part of life that is beyond understanding, yet allows you to live in manifestation effectively, giving to the world what you came here to give.
There are many people who think they are religious, but they have only accepted religious assumptions and have not entered into the real experience. To have religious experience you must be willing to allow your assumptions about life to be questioned. Otherwise, you are using religion for self-comfort and your response to anything outside your "comfort zone" is likely to be fear-based. The person who rejects God is actually closer to God than the person who is living in fear of losing their idea of God. God is not an idea. You always go back to God because it is the only thing to go back to outside the temporary world of manifestation. The mystery is permanent. True religious experience shows you to yourself as part of the Mystery, the permanent beingness you contain which God gives each of us before we come into the manifest world. (excerpts from Religion as Mystery/Wisdom of the Greater Community, Vol II,
Marshall Vian Summers, New Message dot org)
I love that religion can by Mystery rather than just dogma and faith
Thank you!
Wow
So true! People follow assumptions or cultures and believe they are being religious.
I just love these podcasts they feature people who are some of the smartest people who I have heard in a while.
archive.org/details/sheldon-solomon-the-worm-at-the-core-audio
@@AgendaFiles thanks man
I love this dude
Same. He seems like such a kind and thoughtful dude.
Great thinker.
He's good at breaking down complex ideas.
No kidding. He’s awesome
The irony is that I was pondering this very thing just a couple days ago. In my early 20’s I was a staunch atheist but as I got older into my late 20’s and early 30’s I started craving social connection. I felt like I wanted to be a part of something and I started to become somewhat religious. It’s interesting. Like I was an atheist when I was breaking out on my own and rejecting the social and cultural norms of my society where I was at but once I started to figure out who I was I wanted to reconnect in a way that was suitable and constructive for me. And it did make me wonder if religion developed as a way of uniting us in a community and I began to realize religion is intrinsic and a part of who we are. I even pondered the part about how religion gets hijacked in pathological ways. This video really resonates with me.
I'm in my mid 20's and I know that desire for belonging you speak of. In university, a Jewish friend invited me to a Shabbat dinner one Friday evening and I was mesmerized by the singing. A Christian friend also invited me to attend a church youth group meeting. In each case, I felt a warm and welcoming atmosphere. I think because America is a land of immigrants (and their descendants) coming from different cultures and belief systems, it is natural that people will group into various cliques. Religion is one of the few cultural phenomena that people from different ethnicity and nationalities can share, and depending on how a faith is practiced daily in real life (as opposed to a theoretical ideal from a book), a community based around a shared faith can transcend the racial and economic divides which are prevalent in many societies today.
Now adherents of these faiths will tell you the main purpose is not about making people feel a sense of belonging, but rather to follow God. A lot of stories from the New Testament are not happy stories, with radical believers like Paul defying the authorities and consequently getting killed. Not a fairy tale happy ending. And there's a lot of rules and books and behind these faiths, and you wonder why. If a cultural group had no such elaborate rules with an us-versus-them mentality, then these groups would lose cohesion, assimilate with other cultures, and eventually disappear. The bright side of an us-versus-them mentality is that two strangers who share similar beliefs will on average going to be more friendly towards each other.
Now if you're in the middle between belief and unbelief, the rules of a faith say you can't have it both ways and cheat the system. You can't just pretend to be believe in something just to benefit your social life; you have to pay your dues with sincere belief. But since it's difficult for humans to truly see each other's intentions, these faiths says that God will judge the sincerity of your intentions even if humans cannot.
I believe the problem with criticizing a faith is that you don't just attack a belief; you also attack a culture and a way of life for many people. Believers have a structure for how to live their lives and how to deal with the existential questions of life and death. Who are you to attempt to break down the structure of their lives, all the while without providing an alternative? You are proposing to destroy the wheel, not even trying to at least re-invent it in the form of other denominations or sects, which appears to be a purely destructive act. From the insiders' perspective, the critic is a poor lonely fellow who is lost in life and needs the love of God. And depending an individual's personality, that statement may or may not resonate with their feelings. A desire for self-approval and belonging varies among humans, but I believe it exists to some extent in most people, assuming they are not psychopaths.
I like how he says "he is a dead, french sociologist" or "she is a dead writer" rather than "he/she _was_ a sociologist/writer."
Yeah, he makes it sound like that person is still around, but in dead form haha
Pelusonmilk totally. I kinda like it. It’s like they’re people too still, just dead 💀 lol
That last point, about how you're always gonna be in just another bigger cave, is so profound and important to remember. How different the world would be if more people thought about that. How much less tribalism and arrogance and bigotry and harmful dogma/superstition there would be.
To reign in the grasping ego that craves a "final answer" and have the grace and humility to admit/accept that you're part of a probably endless mystery, and that you don't really know shit, as Lex said here, is really a game-changer. It sounds like it would make you just lose your mind (and I suppose in some individuals it does have that effect), but it has been life-changing in the most positive ways for me personally. Onward I go into further and further caves. The mystery unfolds itself endlessly, dancing for us all.
End of the day, the social aspect of religion is very powerful. I enjoy the culture, love, and literature involved, but I just can't get into it. The blind and unquestioned faith aspect just... doesn't vibe well with me. Especially when people start spouting their speeches about god to easily manipulate the good and naive people who practice it.
Cogently put.
I can relate. I could never be apart of it all, but it does seem enticing.
You're painting alot of people with an awfully broad brush.
At the end of the day when it comes to views on life after death everyone's view is faith based.
Well said
Corey Gallagher how so? I don’t see that at all.
Thanks for introducing me to Solomon - profoundly interesting individual
archive.org/details/sheldon-solomon-the-worm-at-the-core-audio
Kids, this is why you need to read books. This guy is awesome.
This dude sounds like a stoner that after decades of smoking weed finally figured it all out lol no hate at all, he’s brilliant & I’m high af as I type this.
He doesnt sound like a stoner hes insanely intelligent and articulate
doctorhonda111 if you smoked or knew enough stoners you would understand. It’s his tonality, his inflections & overall aura of delivery in the topics he’s discussing. What he displays here is a very elevated form of the conversations that stoners have. It’s his academic pedigree that gives his opinions substance.
Stoners say things like "The sun is like a machine man." Or "What if like, the whoe universe is just like an atom in another universe dude." They typically don't quote Heidegger more elegantly than the author himself.
@@jorglueke8458 I graduated chemistry & of my 6 close friends 4 have phds in either physics or engineering. We’ve smoked heavily for the last 8 years. We often times had very complex discourse. Not all stoners are degenerates lol
@@jorglueke8458
I think he just means the guy's general demeanor and body language and speech cadences. He definitely seems like he could have been a "head" back in the day. Or maybe he just naturally has that kind of energy/personality. No need to be so defensive about it.
Religion is about discipline and self-imposed rules regardless of dogma. The belief here is the self can seek to excel.
@@iXallace not in it's entirety. Yes they look to convert people to their religion but they arent sitting here laying out a list of instructions to live your life. They accept there's other religions and the choice of following them or other beliefs and with that they lay out "guidelines" to live a better life. Weather you believe in hell as a reality or a metaphor, their beliefs try to guide you away from that path, which when you take religion out of the equation it translates to living a life where you don't hurt others and live by good morals. It's less about control and more as a stepping stone to point you into a path filled with more empathy for your neighbors and yourself. Humanity took those religions and tied then into war and violence, but that is by no fault of the religion. No I'm not religious but I understand why they are here and needed. Edit... I should clarify that there are obviously parts of different religions that violate this but as a whole religion is designed to give us purpose and guide us twords a better life, it's just weather you agree or disagree with what they constitute as a better life and that's why there's multiple religions.
@@xKhfan213x actually "they" - as in religious people in general - don't. There are very exact rules that are layed out and dogmatists base laws and punishment as well as justification for exclusion, theft and worse on that. You are describing religious people of a certain kind. That kind is a kind of general good person in any religion or no religion. That they behave good is not a function of the particular rules of their faith. As @Mohammed Shafei describes what religion is about for him, that can be positive or negative. What rules does the religious person follow and why? Faith and in extension religious believes themselves are not a virtue - it can be a way of abdicating thought by resorting to dogma - and faith is a vice if you harm other people and feel prideful/superior. Even if you are utterly convinced you are helping people, that can be turned around into harming them "for their own good".
Carl Jung made me aware of the distinction between God and the god imago/god image. From Aion, I developed a rough understanding that the god imago is a real psychological phenomena and it should not be dismissed as delusion or irrational thinking.
Emma Shalliker I said god image, not God.
I so agree. Arational is more like it in terms of what is going on below consciousness and rational thought--so, Terror Management Theory (and others) talk about an "Immortality Project" in the deeper recesses of human phenomenon and culture; I suggest you may be interested in my critical review of this concept and its role: go to: prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/112499
R. Michael Fisher No way, you’re from the U of C too? Cool! I’ll give a read!
@@nickbosman5 Wonderful indeed. Let me know what you think. r.michaelfisher52@gmail.com
"Some kind of immortality" [2:40] There were four kinds in Judean culture: the Zealot sought the immortality of the hero, the Essene believed in spiritual immortality, the Pharisee believed in physical resurrection, while the Sadducee - not believing in any afterlife - invested in the Shalom (peace, long life & prosperity) of the individual and of the State.
@10:11 He says it all "People don't like to be divested of their comfortable illusions".
The belief that beliefs can be chosen is useful. Reminds me that I'm still in a bigger cave and should keep exploring.
We get some choice, but whether it's a cardboard box, a cave, a palace... the Nest of the ape is holy. Likewise one who brings home the bacon is holy, for he is 'loaf-warden' (lord) to his 'loaf-dough' (lady).
Religion isn't just there to benefit our social cohesion etc. I used to be agnostic but am no longer. At some point in your life (which was very early on for me), you realize that this life doesn't matter because there is a barrier at the end that erases everything. All your deeds, all your efforts, all your possessions are gone along with you. It's really important then to decide for yourself whether you take the leap of faith and believe that that is not the end or the road or whether you think that the physical life you have is all there is. At the end of your life, have you walked the complete walk or have you just been "born" so to say? I know that decision is personal for everyone, but (maybe not surprisingly) you don't have to make this decision in a vacuum. Plenty of thinkers, philosophers, religious leaders etc have completed that road and they have plenty of substantial things to say. I am thoroughly convinced that the road is just beginning and taking the pessimistic view of "all I can physically perceive is all there is" is akin to closing your eyes and ears and claiming you can't see and hear. People may decide to ignore the evidence, but it's there if you choose to look. Does it require faith? Certainly. But so does getting up in the morning, like Sheldon points out. It's not a giant leap, but more of a logical one.
8:55 as a recovering nihilist, this hit me hard.
Acknowledging the importance of faith/hope is one thing, actually "believing" is another. It's hard for me to give myself up to a faith when every fiber of me rejects it. I feels like I'm actively trying to fool myself into living a "normal" life.
@@squamish4244 Fantastic book, I just read it a year ago. Viktor’s resilience and sheer luck were astounding. Thanks for reply!
Lex "there's always a bigger cave" Fridman
Thanks for this insightful interview and your awe-inspiring back-catalogue
These two have chosen their own uniforms. Tie dye and skinny tie on the subject of being. It’s transcendent and I am grateful.
Great content!
Regarding which: Is there really a problem regarding this requiring of beliefs so that we can act? For some people I say yes, it appears to be. Yet I posit that by the time a person considers this potential problem its at least a sign they are living or often living in a world of heuristics or contingencies. Scepticism and functionality coexist this way. And this is how a philosophy of science looks to me so neither is this innately a problem for science or necessarily a problem for people generally.
It's like our reality is designed to keep us in the unknown.
Even this statement that was just made is unknown.
It seems Mr Solomon keeps looking at religion as a *social* phenomenon. That there might be any reality behind the claims made by any religion just seems a foregone issue to him.
Do you mean to suggest he ought to lend particular weight to one? Or that his categorical dismissal of the possibility of any is a problem?
@@eisenwerks6388 I'm saying that he could perhaps explore the truth claims made by the world's religions, rather than dismiss them out of hand. I emphatically don't think one should lend particular weight to any, though, when embarking on explorations of this nature.
@@gwang3103 Yes that is right. In this video, he still acknowledges the value of "faith" tho, I just think as you said, he has failed to explore the truth claims from these.
@@Jonathan-Pilkington Agreed. Whatever God is is above all human and worldly understanding.
@@VinOptimaxxx Why do people follow any religion at all? Because they're seriously persuaded that it offers the truth, right? (We'll leave aside those who follow a religion just because their parents followed it...) In which case, I think what truth there may be in any religion is of paramount importance. Nor do I see why it has to be construed as a question of WHICH religion is correct; maybe EVERY religion contains elements of truth. (And falsehood.)
I am a faith person and I like this guy. He isn't a militant atheist out to destroy religion.
Faith entering a luminated bigger cave, of truth and beauty, one is apt to have a more personal spiritual relationship with the source.
David Sloan Wilson - Darwin’s Cathedral
A history of God - Karen Armstrong
In the name of identity - Amin Maalouf
Religions teach variations of the same principles. Some are symbolic, some are literal, some tell stories. They are trying to teach the nature of things, the fundamentals to the universe and nature of humans, just in different ways... They should unite together to compare notes, then they will see they are fighting over stupid meaningless things... "this is my truth, now tell me yours" springs to mind. Without different perceptions, we could not see the whole picture... If a coin was stuck to the ground, and never looked underneath, would you ever see the other side? Or ever know there is a different picture on the other side of the coin?
Indeed, if we find the biggest known cave, there's always a bigger cave to be found :)
I think they miss the most obvious reason for religion... it gives people purpose and meaning.. everyone needs purpose and meaning and they will get it in one form or another.. Find someone who completely lacks purpose and meaning and they are typically completely depressed and useless... what im not saying is that you need religion to give you purpose or meaning.. its just that it is one form of it
We are built for some understanding of eternity, also laws of logic and morality and creator are self evident.
0:53 be right back babe my phone is about to die
Sheldon Salomon seems like an intellectually coherent version of the dude...I love it :)
JP?
There's only one dude...Jeffrey Lebowsky...not the millionaire ;)
Pretty sure people would still be killing each other whether or not religion is involved. I think we get into trouble and misunderstanding w the nomenclature here because of the broad scope of phenomena. One man’s religion is another’s diet, daily routine, meditation, connection to the present, connection to the past. For some it’s purely culture for others it’s not even that. I think we should clearly define terms and behaviors if the goal is to confront its evolutionary effectiveness for humankind
Science is a process of discovery - not a dogma. Faith is the excuse people give when they don’t have evidence. Nothing wrong with saying “I don’t know”. It’s quite humble actually.
You don't need religion to embrace hope and mystery, and religion IS the claim that the "truth" is known only through exclusive practices. Religion is not the cure for religion and never will be, it is innately wrong and we must dispense with it as soon as possible
A sadist is just a masochist following the golden rule.
It’s a viral instruction set with small mutations that correct and optimize its virality.
It’s the codec to get all the ants to cooperate in surviving and spreading DNA in a goal of surviving entropy.
Philip Emanuele meh. Yeah. Read dune
I think religions will take different meanings when people understand the different perceptions. It will be natural to learn a religions teachings, then switch religion to learn their teachings, and so on, until we become enlightened at the point we understand what is being revealed.
He sounds like Saul Goodman
Cool seeing Sheldon; I came across him while looking into Otto Rank; and really enjoyed his talks. Look up Cushvlog Matt Christmas.
Matt Christman*. Nice finding someone else is Into his talks. I think he has his finger on the pulse of something really important in regards to human nature.
If seems that you examine everything but yourselves. Examine yourself with brutal truth, the tiny details to the big life decisions, with the same intensity with which you carry out your experiments, and you'll find answers to questions which I think you've not asked yet. See that it's all about managing energy gradients and flows, that's probably why you chose tie dye and shorts for the camera, quantum feeding.
Or shorts are just comfortable.
@@Tom-rg2ex Did your comment make you feel better?
@@jamessherburn I don't feel good or bad about saying that a reason to wear shorts is that shorts are comfortable, that's literally the purpose of shorts. I'm not trying to be snarky, I just don't see the correlation between metaphysics and pants.
@@Tom-rg2ex ... but the correlation is precisely what I was trying to point out. I think that perhaps the vast majority of people really don't know why they do things. I think that life is hugely enhanced by some serious self examination. Eg. You wouldn't wear shorts if you felt that they made you look silly, or something ... one might worry about what others would think ... how does what others think actually effect you ... are feelings real ... do I suffer or lose energy if people think that I look silly ... is there an actual energetic connection between people which is at once the bleeding obvious and completely denied? .... Why exactly, really, did you decide to make a comment. What precisely was the motivation? This to me is the most fascinating and most important kind of question to ask. Stay safe.
@@jamessherburn Dude you're looking at horsetracks and trying to find zebras. Next time you're tripping, try contemplating something other than the GAP catalog.
I am also thinking that perhaps our social nature makes us naturally predisposed to constructing hierarchies inside our groups. And as intelligent individuals we see the evidence that we are somewhat equal among ourselves, and that hierarchies are difficult to construct as it is hard to argue that one individual should be granted higher authority. But once you invent a higher being, that being, due to its superiority to humans, can be easily put on top of our social hierarchies. And we humans are easily coopted into giving authority to people who are in some sense closer to that higher being.
In short, had they evolved to be as intelligent as humans, dogs would create a religion among themselves, cats wouldn't.
I like the notion that leaps of faith should keep occurring in order to avoid dogmaticism. A series of leaps could well be described as dancing....
Each time I see his face my brain goes “oh it’s Tony Hawk”
I pray everyday for religion to go away yet it remains
Depends on your perspective! Lol. Maybe nothing better had been offered to humanity up to this point so religion has filled the void by default. My comment was meant to be paradoxical and silly tbough- if one prays then they are probably religious and therefore likely wouldn't pray for religion to end. But i do agree that many people are better off keeping their religion
I went to church before and it is torture. They talk about love but are full of cruel and hypocritical. They say they are successful people and will help you to be successful, and they ask you to believe god.
There was a kid who grew up without parents but with many fists. That church says that kid is an evil person. They even think that kid's disability is a sin for him from god.
Religion will be a comfort left behind for those who haven’t the faculty’s necessary to achieve transcendence. Abolishing tribe dependency just might be a prerequisite. That’s an immense expectation for the codependent mind. One day we’ll be studying the effect that new media has had on this time. The world needs a thousand more podcasts like AI!
No, the original function of religion was to foster salvation and cohesion with the infinite reality.
Religion isn't the cure, Robert Smith is The Cure.
Religion is based upon standards and expectations...and when after so many years of repetitive religion and "spirituality", you will come to see that it is only leading you in circles. This is where you get rid of it, and truly become free to be your nature...this is what The SBN Lifestyle is all about...join in on this journey to get back to our free and natural selves!
Again and again the term faith is coming of very similar to trust and confidence.
You wake up and go on with life because there is a lot of evidence that life goes on and you and others can make positive change.
Faith is the answer given when there is no good reasons or evidence for a confident answer.
Also humans are capable of cognitive dissonance and compartmentalization. So we can easily keep doing what in many ways doesn't make much sense given everything known, this leaves an opportunity for answering said things at a later point and discovering reasons for what previous had none.
How many times have you heard the phrase "Yo dudes" followed by such a profound statement?
Truth is a religious concept.
Tony Hawk 2020:D
Oldest trick in the book
No, the original function of Religion is to save us from the absurdity and terror of dying into nothingness.
Always a bigger cave 😳
Sheldon solomon; what would toony hawk will look and act like if he never found out about skateboard
Why is it we have to be "careful" about religion, but hatred and economics is fair game lol
Wait.is the invisibility of god used by god to foster curiosity and the sole drive for learning and searching, connecting and group discussion ? Like if it was 'just there' where's the demand?wheres the mystery?why seek faith, why learn.its just there. Maybe thats why god is invisible uet points to 1st principle clues via scriptures. to fuel learning and drive the seeking. Maybe🤔🙄
There was a verse in quran that says ' he created humans, to get to know him and to adore n worship and love him' so maybe the invisibility and gap between meeting in the after life is what fuels the search, curiosity and vigorous learning.
Adriana Adnan or maybe he just isn’t real. Occam’s razor is useful here.
Or maybe God is invisible because He is not bound by space and time. It would only make sense that empirical beings would not be able to empirically verify that which is outside creation. A maximally great being, would definitely not be so if one could limit Him to merely participating in the physical realm.
Region not the nuclear the deadliest weapon mankind has invented.
Going to tell my kids this is Tony Hawk
Jungian religion answers all his protestations
Not all religions are created equal, when it comes to lunatic fundamentalist fringe, the fundamentals of the religion matter. Compare either of the Abrahamic religions with Jainism for example, the more fundamentalist you get with Jainism the more non violent you get, we all know the dark history of inquisitions.
Exclusivity in religion is problematic as it pits one against another. There are those that believe in a Cosmic brotherhood and profess that all paths lead to the singular source. In this sense polytheism makes more of a discount in comparison to monotheism.
Makes cents, 'cuz Becker convinced me Faith only path, just depends on your decisions...wake wake up where ever ur! Our world a garden likely for this audience. Lets act like it, weed it, water it, prune it...make a lil slice if heaven your pie, share with tribe
Nice coffee cup,no religion needed when you got a cup like that.
I don't see how having faith in Christ, who's story isn't original and can be arguably traced back to the sun deities such as the Phoenix that dies and gets reborn, is key to being at peace. Sure there is a hope in that if the sun god can do it, so can we, but they didn't know the sun was just going round back then and so they were just trying to make sense out of what they saw. I agree that the religion aspect was probably innocent party play to begin with, like toga parties, but then somebody got the idea that they could sell these ideas as true realities, limited realities, that once people bought into they found difficult to escape. They accept these limited realities as the be all, end all of truth, and anything that could expose the reality as a fabrication is seen as an existential threat. I am completely agnostic. I once held on firmly to the idea that there is a god and somehow we are part of god yet separate and unaware like characters in dream, even after realizing the Bible is nothing more than strange history, myth, and morals mixed up in an incomprehensible way with many contradictions which can be used to justify just about any horror under the sun except taking the lords name in vain, using the justification that this this is all too complex and beautiful to just be some great accident, but then one day I realized it wasn't any more likely that a god would just appear accidentally with the knowledge, power, skill and creativity to create the universe. I still have hope and faith that there is something more to it all. I don't need a mental object to pin that hope on. Staying in this life indefinitely could be a major drag at some point, so even if it's eternal sleep, I think I can look forward to that. The whole idea of hell is where religion gets real tricky. Nobody knows for sure but there have been a few scary NDE's. No one can say for a fact that there are no angels, demons or ghosts in our world. But religions love to use the fear of the unknown as means of controlling people well. A mass opiate is only one of many uses for religion. I think the willingness of humans to let others define their realities for them is the biggest threat to our existence. Whether that reality is religious, racist, political, environmental or healthy eating even, people seem desperate for someone else to define their realities for them. One thing we were given besides imagination and mirror neurons is the ability to reason. Why short circuit that by accepting contradiction as something which must make sense somehow beyond our comprehension with no evidence for that whatsoever? It doesn't make sense that you're thrown into some game with already limited choices and then you choose to limit those even more based on how you think that will affect your next life. Dogma only leads to more suffering. Isn't It enough to say that just because we don't know that this life isn't some kind of test we should pretend like it is just in case? Since it's easy to be mean, cruel, selfish, and judgmental, if it is a test, then doing what is hard is the way to pass. But I think it takes more than that if there is an afterlife, that is if you want to escape the wheel of life as the Buddhists say.. Despite being agnostic I do lean towards the belief in an afterlife based on NDE accounts, tales of reincarnation, and my own personal experiences with ghostly occurrences. I don't think the physical reality we experience is the be all end all of existence. I've had confirmed clairvoyant experiences, I've witnessed a large UFO in close proximity, and I have had many other unexplainable coincidences and several visions from "another reality." I don't believe anything beyond the fact that there is something I don't understands going on. Religions always place someone as having more knowledge and understanding and more direct connection to the divine that we sinners need as a middle man to God. The priest class. I could possibly start a new branch of Christianity or a new religion altogether, but I'm not sure that what Jesus would have done intentionally.
religion is like the law/police. if you break the law into prison you go 'hell'
I like the cup
Interesting
And so the answer is spirituality and science should start to study that more...only my opinion..
sheldon read the holy text horton hears a who
Watch videos and read books of Acharya Prashant. He will give you great insight on religion. Jiddu krishnamurthi and osho can also help you.
Imagine racing to the comment section just to type first. PSH lmao
Religion is a form of love. But between you n creator.
Summary: There is always a bigger cave.
The chitterings of primates, fearful of the dark.
Lex: science acts like it has figured out everything.
Physicists: Help us. We know only about 5% of what the universe is made of.
BLM!
- First off, looking at religion, or any ideology that claims to be right even, through a strict naturalistic sense will never work. If absolute naturalism is true, then all claims are only apparently true, and there would be no real distinction between them. They would all be equally plausible. If religion was only evolutionarily beneficial, then there would be no reason for the animosity that exists currently against it, again, given the premise that naturalism is true. I think this paper (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20105353/ ) is useful in this regard. How do we explain why we frequently make seemingly false claims?
- The view that the Golden Rule is the only genuine inherent moral maxim and that the only merit that other religions have is "adopting" it is ironically a religion in and of itself. And the "religions cause wars" argument doesn't get you very far, when you realize that any individual with _any_ belief can violently impose them on other people. Stalin wasn't a religious person. All this perspective does is attack religion, falsely pointing at the origin of human strife. A person skeptical of why people do bad things, should probably refer to the Problem of Evil, which I believe has sufficient solutions.
- Sheldon's comment on secular Americans prompted a great example of how the "all fair and equal" image of secularism is merely a facade. Lex adds upon this shortly after. The philosophobic and extreme empiricism-reliant nature of these people is ironically, extremely dogmatic.
To conclude, I believe that religion _can_ be rationally reached, and I would really love if you had a knowledgeable Muslim on the podcast to adequately explain this. Great podcast.
Islam is bull shit as well. All 3 Middle Eastern monotheistic religions are dogmatic crazy jargon. Grow up
Guys such a quack. Dude needs a shower. All religion will go away. Rev. "Babylon the great has fallen, the world empire of false religion." That day is soon to come. Its prophecy.
"In the name of identity" - Amin Maalouf - this one is now on my book list